Category - News

Social media is the best place for you to find, reach and interact with your friends or fan base in real time. BUT it is also a site infested by an army of grammar Nazis.

Watchful eyes like that of a hawk, just waiting for you to make a grammatical blunder. Grammatical errors, big or small, are all the same in the eyes of a grammar Nazi. None will be forgiven. One wrong move and you find yourself in the black list. Pretty scary, right?

About a year ago, www.thesocialjeep.com was still a concept, an exciting beehive in the minds of the teams behind Third Team Media and The Memoriter Writing Service. While the project was still a mental larva, the crew started deploying writers to start-up and marketing events with the behest to snatch slabs of wisdom from already great people for potentially great people.

One of these already great people is Cebuano businessman Wilson Ng, president and chief executive officer of Cebu-based computer solutions company Ng Khai Development Corp. He spoke to students and entrepreneurs in a Cebu Start-up Day organized by TechTalks.ph in December 2013, about the same time our crew raked Cebu’s streets in search for good stories.

With our system now in place, we decided to tell Ng’s words of advice, even when they are a year old, for they contain heaps of lifelong lessons for starting entrepreneurs as well as slick reminders for successful businessmen.

Drop your sched and block it for Cebu Island’s most-awaited cosplay happening on February 21st! Dubbed as OTAKU FEST 8.0: ALTERNATE UNIVERSE, this cosplay event at the UP Grounds aims to gather over 2,000 cosplayers and enthusiasts for a full day of fun under the sun and moon from 8am – 8pm.

This is Otaku Fest’s 8th year and it promises to be more colorful than ever with special guests Liui Aquino, Lyron Aquino and Ae Ri of Team M.A.R.C.H. Philippines. Liui, one of the country’s most popular cosplayers, will be playing Hiccup from How to Train your Dragon during the exclusive meet and greet portion. He will then play Tadashi from Big Hero 6 for the rest of the event.

Liui as Hiccup of How to Train Your Dragon

Lyron Aquino A.K.A. Ly Chii of Team March Philippines

Ae Ri of Team March

K-pop stars FameUS will also hold a special performance at the event. FameUS is a six-member Korean pop boy group under KN Entertainment. Cebuano BL1SS fans will definitely feel blissful with the chance to meet FameUS and get signed merchandise! Limited FameUS merchandise are available at the venue from 2:00PM onwards.

It’s February! The love month! And retailers are on a rush to push out the best campaigns they can come up with to make sure you end up opening your wallets and grabbing their goods for your mi amore.

This is also one of the holidays we love and the Valentine’s Day content put out this month deserves a mention.

Which companies are rockstars when it comes to holiday promotions? Here are some catchy ones we’ve seen on our feeds!

1. Krispy Kreme’s #ValentinesDoughnuts campaign

Krispy Kreme is strong in crafting promotions that tease our sweet tooth! No wonder. For their #ValentinesDoughnuts campaign this February, the brand launched a Facebook promotion asking 10 questions each day on revolving around, well, love and doughnuts. Winner is picked daily based on the best stories shared and submitted.

On top of that, they are sharing P100 coupons for the Valentine’s Season for doughnut deliveries. So sweet!

2. Ford Mustang Speed Dating Prank

Fast and furious. That’s the kind of date you will encounter with Ford Mustang’s Valentine’s video.

Guys are lured into thinking their date (who turns out to be a stunt driver) was a lady who can’t drive stick. Turns out she can blow your mind with her stunts on a Mustang! Now that’s SPEED dating. Literally.

3. Babbel’s Valentine’s Tales

Content can also be a great way to celebrate Valentine’s Day. And Valentine’s Tales is great way for Babbel, a platform to learn new languages, to showcase the different ways to say “I love you.” Ti amo!

4. The Outlets at Pueblo Verde’s Selfie with Love

In the Philippines, there are LOADS of selfie contests for all occasions. What more for Valentine’s Day? It’s the perfect time to get cheesy with the one you love.

The Outlets at Pueblo Verde, the first outlet shopping mall in VisMin, launches their own selfie promo along with the Love Feast dinner buffet on Valentine’s Day.

(Disclosure: Third Team Media works with The Outlets at Pueblo Verde team for social media campaigns)

5. Havaianas’ Get Spotted

On both the major malls of Cebu – Ayala and SM City – Havianas has chosen to make it different. Get spotted with your Havianas on Valentine’s Day and receive treats! Only problem I’m seeing here is that they might have a hard time seeing ladies in flipflops. The women will most probably be in high heels off to a date with their loved ones! Wouldn’t you agree?

6. Max Cebu in Ayala’s Valentine Meal

A photo can speak a thousand words. Here’s Max’s Restaurant being upfront about what your meal would look like with your date if you choose to celebrate with them. I wonder how much it would be though?

7. SaveMore’s Candy Box

Supermarket SaveMore at SM City Cebu gives out free valentine candy boxes if you grab 500php worth of their Yellow Tags. Ah, the moms would love this for the kiddos.

8. GuestList.ph’s Free Fall Party

What better way for a startup to grab lists and lists of user base than to host a party! Together with major sponsors like OLX and MTV, GuestList.ph brings the part to UP with this Valentine’s event.

9. Looloo App’s Dinner for Two

Ah! Free food! Why not? For an app like Looloo with a huge list of merchants, we’re thinking this would be a lovely collaboration between them. Congrats to the winners! Super yummy steaks right there.

10. BE Resorts’ Be Romantic

Now for another romatic dinner promo. This one’s at a resort so feel free to relish on fresh sea breeze when you win BE Resorts’ promo.

Which ones haven’t been mentioned here but caught your eye? Share them on the comments too. 🙂

The deluge of information, tip sheets and whatnot you can find online about bolstering your brand can either make you gritty or giddy. Sometimes, at the end of the day, your understanding of the word “brand” can become slightly displaced.

Jacqueline Alexis Thng, chief executive officer of Lexis Branding, came to Cebu late last year to put the basics (and trends) about branding back to the table. Read More

And they are doing it with a huge 3-day Wonderful One birthday celebration with bands, parties, a movie night and a food bazaar from late afternoon to midnight! There’s no other place to be on December 12 – 14 but at The Outlets at Pueblo Verde – the first outlet shopping mall in Vis-Min.

Forbes’ article takes this further by saying “Don’t tweet. Don’t waste your time on Facebook. Email still works.” Marketers read the report and agree with this. But of course, some of us do not agree with such conclusion.

Backing up a bit, the use of social media in your overall marketing strategy is highly encouraged and in fact, known to show results for brands who execute their social media strategies properly. This has shown very good case studies and thus, encouraged most brand owners to believe that it is a solution to their sales problem.

Brands that know how to “laugh” at themselves can win the hearts (and attention) of their target customers. That is true if the placement is perfect and it is well within the marketing plan of the brands.

But what can brands do to ride on “memes”? It’s a concept known as memejacking.

What is a meme anyway? Hubspot mentions that “a meme is quite simply a concept, behavior, or idea that spreads, usually via the internet.”

Filipinos are now starting trends or memes where they poke fun at nostalgia. Take for example the recent viral trend of “Sarah ang Munting Princesa” and the “Patatas Meme”. You may have seen this meme shared on your newsfeed. Or maybe saw one but didn’t “get” the joke.

Some news outlets mentioned that no one knows where the trend started. Unlike other memes where origins are very much traceable, the source of the “patatas meme” still has to be uncovered. Checking some source online would bring you to the meme’s own Facebook page and Twitter profile. It has thousands and thousands of followers and fans in such a short period of time.

Now if only brands know how to tap these kinds of “viral” themes, it could well be a blast for them and their audience. Do you think it would be appropriate for these brands to mention a Princes Sarah Patatas Meme?

Browsing through my Facebook feed, I usually take the time looking at the ads served to me. It’s not just to bump their impressions, but I love looking at how advertisers execute their campaigns and personally determine if the ad was served right to me. Knowing that me and my son have a pet game called “Hay Day”, I was not surprised when I noticed this ad below from Clash of Clans, a game from the developer – Supercell.

What surprised me though was that the Tagalized ad. It was in Tagalog! Or rather in Filipino.